SP Juan Valdes - LHP - Age 21
Talents - S:7 M:6 C:8
Twin Cities aquired Juan Valdes when the team was stripped down a few seasons from Las Vegas for Josh Brown. Twin Cities had seen the potential for Valdes to be a starter and he was first in a line of reliever conversions to starters in an effort to find young starters in drafts devoid of them.
Juan had mixed success in the minors and often floated back & forth between starting and the closer role. However, he started to settle down in Single A last season and the Front Office decided to call him up during the roster expansion last season after several Starters went down for year to injury.
While Juan's ERA was just over 5.00 in his four starts last season, he had a very encouraging 1.13 WHIP.
With the River Monster's projected #1 & #2 Starters still on the injured list, the Team tapped Juan to take the mound on opening day.
The California Crusaders were coming to town to start the season. A team who racked up 95 wins in 2041 and Juan would be going against Career 201 game winner and likely Hall of Famer, Luis Garcia.
The River Monster was able to jump on Garcia early in the 1st with Catcher Joe Bradshaw hitting a 2 run homer. Twin Cities added 2 runs a couple innings later and that would be enough for Juan Valdes.
Valdes threw 5 scoreless innings before giving up a run after Quant Kouros stole second base and scored off a single by David Simpson.
Valdes went into the 8th inning, but couldn't get an out and gave up another run when RP Andre Savard gave up a triple to the first batter he faced.
"We couldn't have scripted an opening day start any better for Juan. He rose up to the challege of facing a tough team in a high profile spot and threw a gem. Let's hope there's a lot more of those games in his arm," commented Manager Juan Martinez.
